United States Vice President JD Vance is on an official visit to India. He is accompanied by his Indian-origin wife, Usha Vance, and their three children — Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. This is Vance’s first visit to India since becoming Vice President.
The visit comes at a crucial time. The US and India are negotiating a new trade agreement. It is expected to address key issues, including tariffs and market access. The visit also follows the earlier imposition and suspension of a broad tariff policy by former President Donald Trump.
JD Vance is a well-known figure in American politics. However, attention during the visit has also turned to his wife, Usha Vance. She has deep Indian roots and strong academic credentials.
Usha Vance's background
Usha Vance, born Usha Chilukuri, traces her family origins to Andhra Pradesh. Her family later settled in Chennai. She was born and raised in San Diego, California, in a working-class neighbourhood.
Villagers in Andhra Pradesh express pride over his wife Usha Chilukuri’s deep-rooted connection to their land. Locals say, “It feels like one of our own has reached the White House.”
She completed a degree in history at Yale University. Usha then earned an MPhil in early modern history from Cambridge University, where she was a Gates Scholar.
Her mother is a molecular biologist. Her father is a mechanical engineer. Both her father and grandfather were connected to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). One taught there, and the other studied there. Her grandfather, Ramasastry Chilukuri, taught physics at IIT Madras when it opened in 1959.
The IIT still honours him with a student award in his memory.
Usha’s younger sister is also an engineer. She works in the semiconductor industry in San Diego. One of Usha’s aunts is a medical professional based in Chennai. Her parents moved to the United States from Andhra Pradesh in the late 1970s.
In an interview, Usha once said, “I grew up in a religious household. My parents are Hindu. That shaped who they were and helped make them great parents.” She spoke fondly of how those values influenced her upbringing.
How JD Vance meets Usha Vance
Usha met JD Vance at Yale Law School in 2010. They both joined a discussion group on “social decline in white America.” This group helped inspire Vance’s bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, published in 2016. The book describes his childhood in Ohio and Kentucky.
In the memoir, Vance wrote that he “fell hard” for Usha. He said she was a “genetic anomaly” for her intelligence and kindness. He admitted he broke modern dating rules by telling her he was in love after only one date.
Usha helped JD Vance throughout his legal and political career. A classmate described her as someone who always guided others, especially with competitive judicial clerkship applications.
Professional career
In 2015, Usha clerked for US Chief Justice John Roberts. She later became a lawyer at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, a major US law firm. The firm has offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
In the 2020 Netflix film adaptation of Hillbilly Elegy, actress Freida Pinto played Usha. The character described how her father arrived in the US with nothing and built a life from scratch.
Now, as she returns to India with her husband and children, Usha Vance’s story has come full circle. The visit is both political and deeply personal.
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